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(6) Fall of the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace

mainsite_tushuojindai_taipingtianguo6.6_nov21
mainsite_tushuojindai_taipingtianguo6.6_nov21

Back at the start of the revolt, the Taiping Army, a seemingly unstoppable force, had seized half of China within a short period of time. However, they soon grew content with ruling their territory south of the river and maintaining the North-South standoff. The Kingdom’s strength was also greatly undermined by serious infighting. These factors transformed the Taiping Army from a conquering force on a victorious streak to a passive defender.

In the final days of the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace, young generals such as the Heroic King (英王), Chen Yucheng (陳玉成), and the Loyal King (忠王), Li Xiucheng (李秀成), were all that stood between the Kingdom and certain doom. In 1862 (the first year of Emperor Tongzhi’s ﹝同治﹞ reign), after Chen’s capture and execution by the Qing forces, Li and his men became Tianjing’s (天京) lone defenders. The Qing government appointed Zeng Guofan (曾國藩) as the Imperial Commissioner cum Viceroy of Jiangsu (江蘇) and Zhejiang (浙江). The Qing forces, under the leadership of Zeng, consisted of the Xiang Army (湘軍), Huai Army (淮軍) joined by the Ever-Victorious Army (常勝軍), and Zuo Zongtang’s (左宗棠) regiment joined by the Ever-Triumphant Army (常捷軍). They all moved to besiege Tianjing in three columns.

In June 1864 (the third year of Emperor Tongzhi’s reign), Hong Xiuquan (洪秀全) died of illness. By July, the Xiang Army managed to breach the walls of Tianjing. Li hailed Hong’s eldest son, Hong Tianfugui (洪天貴福) as the new king. They then escaped together as Tianjing fell. While attempting to break through the siege lines outside the city, Li was captured and later executed after penning his final confession. Hong Tianfugui was captured and killed in Jiangxi (江西). With the fall of Tianjing and the crush of its leadership, the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace came to an end. The Taiping Rebellion lasted for 14 years and embroiled a dozen provinces.

Despite the Kingdom’s demise, remnants of its people carried on the struggle. Stories about the movement’s anti-Qing resistance and its ideologies continued to spread, inspiring countless future revolutionaries like Sun Yat-sen (孫中山) and his associates.

What caused the fall of the Taiping Rebellion, the Qing dynasty’s largest mass uprising? It, after all, managed to hold its own against the Qing government for 14 years, and had half of China under its sway at one point.

See answer below.

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mainsite_tushuojindai_taipingtianguo6.1_nov21

The cover of Chen Yucheng (《陳玉成》), a lianhuanhua (serial picture story) published in the 1970s. Chen Yucheng, a stalwart and gallant warrior, participated in many of the Taiping Rebellion’s key battles such as the second successful rout of the Jiangbei (江北) and Jiangnan (江南) camps, the massive victory at Sanhe Town (三河鎮) and the defence of Anqing (安慶) against imperial assault. In 1862, he was betrayed, captured, and executed at the age of 26. His passing was lamented by the Shield King (干王), Hong Rengan (洪仁玕), as follows: “With the loss of the Heroic King, the morale and might of our army fell at once, totally crumbling!”

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mainsite_tushuojindai_taipingtianguo6.2_nov21

The seated figure in the middle Li Xiucheng, the Loyal King, presiding over a war council at his mansion in Suzhou (蘇州). Once Zeng Guofan had captured Anqing and the other strategically important locations, he proceeded to besiege Tianjing in 1862. In its twilight days, the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace was kept alive mainly by Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng. After Chen’s death, Li was left as the last line of defence.

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mainsite_tushuojindai_taipingtianguo6.3_nov21

In 1862, the Xiang Army launched a joint land and naval assault on Tianjing. The picture shows the Qing navy being bombarded by the Taiping Army defending the city.

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mainsite_tushuojindai_taipingtianguo6.4_nov21

An illustration of the scene of Xiang Army breaching the outer wall of Tianjing.  At the end of 1863, the Xiang Army captured all cities and towns around Tianjing, holding it in a vice-like grip. Despite Li Xiucheng’s advice to abandon the city and escape, Hong Xiuquan refused to do so, a decision tantamount to signing his own death warrant.

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mainsite_tushuojindai_taipingtianguo6.5_nov21

On 19 July 1864, the Xiang Army finally breached Tianjing’s defences after two years of bloody war, the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace collapsed. The Qing government later commemorated the act by disseminating many copies of the illustration Jinling Retaken (《克復金陵圖》, Jinling is another name for Nanjing). After making their way into Tianjing, the Xiang Army ravaged the city by plundering, burning, and slaughtering, subjecting the people to unspeakable horrors.

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Zeng Guofan’s younger brother Zeng Guoquan (曾國荃) led the assault on Tianjing. Zhao Liewen (趙烈文), one of Zeng Guoquan’s assistants, made the following record after witnessing the atrocities committed by the Xiang Army:

Looting: “keen on looting, the Xiang Army were somewhat disorderly, even troops posted at camp left for pillaging,” while the army’s generals “were all laden with plunder, with over a hundred or so amassing riches worth over 100,000 (taels).”

Burning: “three-tenths of the fires were set by the rebels (Taiping Army) while seven-tenths were set by the Xiang Army.”

Abducting and slaughtering: “nine-tenths of the corpses lying on the streets were those of the aged. Children under two and three years old were also slaughtered for fun and their bodies lay prostrate along the roads. Not a single woman under forty was there (all were abducted). The elderly who was wounded each bore a dozen to several dozen stab wounds, and their wails of pain could be heard everywhere.” It was estimated that 200,000 to 300,000 people were killed in the incident.

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mainsite_tushuojindai_taipingtianguo6.6_nov21

Even Tianjing fell, most of the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace’s soldiers and people refused to surrender and fought to the death. As a final show of courage, heroism, and loyalty, they inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy forces. Pictured is the cover of Stalwarts of Tianjing (《天京忠魂》), a lianhuanhua published in the 1970s.

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mainsite_tushuojindai_taipingtianguo6.7_nov21

Before the Xiang Army breached Tianjing’s defences, Hong Xiuquan died of illness on 1 June 1864. The illustration shows Hong was being exhumed from his grave by the Xiang Army on 30 July. After unearthing Hong’s body, the Xiang Army delivered it to Zeng Guofan for inspection. On 1 August, Zeng ordered his men to cut up Hong’s body into pieces and incinerate it. The ashes were then mixed with gunpowder, loaded into cannonballs, and fired into the distance to ensure that all his traces were obliterated.  

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mainsite_tushuojindai_taipingtianguo6.8_nov21

Li Xiucheng’s prized sword and a confession written before his death. After Tianjing was breached, Li protected Hong Tianfugui, the Junior King of Heaven, as they escaped the city. Unfortunately, both were captured. Li was killed on 7 August 1864; Hong, captured in October of the same year, was killed in November.

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Before his death, Li Xiucheng wrote a confession that contained several tens of thousands of words, through which he served as a witness to this period of history. In his words, the two major faults were the internal strife between the Eastern King and the Northern King, and appointment of too many kings (the Kingdom had more than 2,700 kings). He considered the ultimate failing was the dispute between the Assistant King and the Heavenly King. The Heavenly King suspected about his subject’s loyalty. This led to the Assistant King’s departure and numerous capable officials and warriors followed him to leave Tianjing. The Xiang Army’s role in the Kingdom’s fall, in comparison, was only lightly addressed. Thus, from Li’s point of view, the Kingdom’s demise was mainly due to its own failings. Some may also view the confession as Li’s betrayal of the Kingdom, but this view is inconclusive.

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mainsite_tushuojindai_taipingtianguo6.9_nov21

Two illustrations that depict the war against the Taiping Rebellion: one is an imitation of the Qing government’s Painting of the Extermination of the Yue Bandits (《剿滅粵匪圖》) by a Western artist; the other, also drawn by a Western artist, depicts refugees from the war. 14 years elapsed from the launch of the movement to the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace’s collapse. A dozen provinces were embroiled in the conflict, making heavy loss of life and countless people homeless.

mainsite_tushuojindai_taipingtianguo6.10_nov21
mainsite_tushuojindai_taipingtianguo6.10_nov21

Although the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace fell, but most of its army’s remnants joined the Nian rebels (捻軍) to continue their armed resistance against the Qing government. Their anti-Qing ideologies also continued to spread, ultimately inspiring the anti-Qing revolution that later managed to topple the empire. The statues pictured is in Nanjing (南京, where Tianjing was during the Taiping Rebellion) in Jiangsu Province. Young Sun Yat-sen (孫中山, figure standing on the right) is listening intently to an elder’s tales of the anti-Qing Taiping Army. The elder personally experienced the Taiping Rebellion. Praising Hong Xiuquan as the “first to oppose the Qing regime” and proclaiming himself “Hong Xiuquan the Second”, Sun made overthrowing the Qing regime his calling.

What caused the fall of the Taiping Rebellion, the Qing dynasty’s largest mass uprising? It, after all, managed to hold its own against the Qing government for 14 years, and had half of China under its sway at one point.

A shortcoming of the Taiping Rebellion, as well as other mass uprisings throughout Chinese history, was the rebels’ inability to maintain and safeguard their heartland regions. While the Taiping Army was able to invade cities and seize territories through hit-and-run tactics, once the main body of the army moved on, their territories were easily reclaimed by the Qing army. The Taiping Army’s inability to defend captured territories that were then besieged meant it had to fight constantly to regain lost ground.

Besides, the Taiping Army failed to seize the momentum to move on after establishing the capital in Tianjing. Instead, they became content with maintaining the North-South standoff and staying south of the Yangtze River, which allowed the Qing government to regain its footing and strike back. Although the Taiping Army had the opportunity to change the whole aspect of the war by pursuing its victorious streak, its arrogant and greedy leadership became preoccupied with infighting for power and privileges, which was fatal to the movement. Furthermore, the Kingdom failed to make adequate progress in establishing political and social systems. For example, most of the measures in the Land System of the Heavenly Dynasty (《天朝田畝制度》) were never implemented. Its anti-Confucian stance also brought them into conflict with traditional values and lost them supporters. The Qing government allied with the Western powers to put down the rebellion was also a key factor in the Taiping Army’s defeat.

Source of most photos used in this feature piece: Fotoe

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